the dumpster!

The dumpster has been delivered and Dad had a friend's teenage boys fill 'er up.

It's a good thing because we were plum out of room on the back porch and running out of it in the garage! 

Cabinets

Every single cabinet door in the whole house looks the same. You can find them in the master bath, the hallway built-in, the living room built-ins, the bar, the kitchen, the office, the task area, and the laundry room. They are stained, solid wood doors, that are super heavy and seem to be really nice. 

But, I just can't decide if I like them.

I haven't been able to bring myself to calculate how much it would be to replace them all. But I will have to do that because we have a lot of cabinet doors. And those aren't cheap.

Although we are taking many of them out, we will still have cabinetry in the kitchen and laundry and master bath. Plus we are having new built-ins built in the living room, so we could have them re-use the same doors for consistency.

If we do keep them, we are definitely painting them. High-gloss white...that's what we want.

But here's why I don't know if I like them. I always kind of wanted some cabinets in my kitchen to be glass. And I just can't picture it with this style of cabinet. I mean, would it be super ugly to cut out the center arched panel and install glass on just a few? I think, yes. But I don't know. Maybe frosted glass? Hmmm.

Plus, my dream farmhouse kitchens always have that super simple block panel design and the routered arch look doesn't even come close to that style...

*******

So, do I blow the budget on all new perfectly farmhouse cabinet fronts? Or do I try for a few custom glass panels to appease my glass cabinet fantasy? Or do I just settle for painting them all and hope for the best?

AAAAAHHHHH!!!!

Master Demo

My dreamy master suite is ready for some fixin' up!

Done: Curtains down, carpet out, tack strip up, outlet and switch plates off, intercom removed, vents thrown away...

Still left to do: Remove popcorn ceiling, remove trim, patch sheetrock, texture walls, paint walls, texture ceiling, paint ceiling (or put up textured wall paper?), install wood floors, install floor molding and crown molding, replace closet and bath door with french doors, replace bedroom door with paneled door, change out 2 light fixtures, replace broken window, install sconce lighting, redo and put on switch plates, replace vent covers, hang curtains, get a few pieces of furniture, buy a rug...

It goes on and on and on. But it's all so exciting!!!

*And this doesn't even count the bathroom! 

Light Fixture

This is the light hanging in the guest bath. There are two more just like this in the hall bath, only they have different glass globes on them. 

I have never seen anything quite like them.

(Pardon the burned out light bulb. 80% of the bulbs in the house are out!)

Here you can kind of see the ones in the hall bath...

So, I LOVE the glass globes on these things. Esp. this one.

I think they are gorgeous. So intricate and delicate. However, I'm not crazy about the chain and the way they swag over to each side. I'm wondering if there is a way to let one hang down like a pendent and then swag just one side so they are hanging more like a grouping? Or I'm wondering if there is way to buy a light kit and make them into pendants? I could have two pendants in this style and four in the other clear glass style. Either way, I really want to find a way to use these fixtures. I think they are just so pretty.

Bay Window

This is the big window that is on the front of the house in the dining room. Without the heavy blue dupioni silk drapery covering it, the entire house is so much brighter! 

I have the silliest predicament about this window. I looooooooong for a window seat to be built in right under it. Maybe even one that has storage in it. Cute pillows, a place to sit in the sun, a quiet spot away from the room with the TV. 

Sounds perfect, right?

But then as I was removing that tack strip last week-end I was in a meditative trance (out of necessity!) and I started to fret. As I sat thinking about my lovely window seat where I could lounge and read novels and sip iced tea, I began to panic because I can't figure out where to put the Christmas tree! 

Crazy? Yes. But serious.

Grandma always had hers in front of this window. It's the perfect spot! A huge window, facing the street. You can see the lights on the tree as you drive up in the dark. And with a window seat, a dining room table and a buffet, there is just no room for a tree here. It would have to go somewhere else.

When I brought it up to Brad he asked, "You are designing your house based on one month out of the year?" 

Well, YES! I love Christmas! I love Christmas at my Grandma's house! And I love a big tree in front of a big window on the front of the house! 

Am I crazy? (Don't answer that...)

So, I'm in a pickle...and I need some help.

In more ways than one, apparently! :)

The Guest Bath

Last week-end we also got around to demo-ing a little bit in the guest/office bath. The hardest part was removing all the thumbtacks that Uncle Ronnie had used to hang up the posters, ads, and letters that covered the walls. We then took down the lovely faded rose print wallpaper. It already looks much better than it did BEFORE:

I am envisioning extreme simplicity here. No built-ins, no storage. Just a pedestal sink, a toilet, a place for towels...I do hope we can push that wall out and take over a laundry room closet so that our guests can have a shower. It is a tiny bathroom and will be so clean, bright, and perfect for our guests!

Hardware

With the original thought process of EVERYTHING MUST GO, we were on a rampage to do just that...and get rid of everything. 

But the more time we spend at the house, the more things we discover that might be worth keeping. 

Exhibit A:

These towel bars. These are super dooper heavy metal and very ornate. There are two short and one long and I think they might look pretty in the guest bath perhaps?

Exhibit B:

These switch plates and outlet covers are the best example! I originally thought these all were SO gaudy and SO ugly. But when I started removing the very first one on Saturday I realized they are SOLID metal. They are really heavy and of amazing quality and after I spent hours removing them they had grown on me. There are literally HUNDREDS of outlets and switches in the house...(Grandma always bragged that she had overdone it on the outlets because you just never know where you'll want to plug something in!) Even to replace them with cheap plastic ones would be a couple of hundred dollars but to replace them with anything similar (i.e. metal) would be at least $4 each and most are about $12-14 a piece! Meaning we could spend over $1,000 bucks just on outlet covers! What!?

Obviously the white ones need to have some paint stripper applied to remove the yellowed paint but aren't they so unique? Each room had it's own style of cover. The top was reserved for the kitchen but I think would be great in G.'s room! The next, more scrolly white ones were in the dining room and master. And the brass ones were everywhere else. I think I will repaint the white ones with white spray paint and use in the same rooms. The brass ones? I can't decide if I just clean 'em and leave 'em or spray paint them a more antique bronze, like this...

Brad thinks I've lost my mind. He says there is no way we should use them because he thinks they are just ugly. But I get the final say! What's your vote?

Exhibit C:

These are the cute crystal globe knobs that Grandma had on all the cabinetry in the master and guest bathrooms. I stashed them away for a future project. Maybe they will return to the same cabinetry (the ones that stay anyway!) or maybe I put them on a dresser. We'll see! I just love the way they sparkle.